Judge Rejects Mamdani's Fight Against ICE Shelter Subpoena
A federal judge on Friday ordered New York City to comply with an immigration subpoena, narrowed to Bronx shelter residents with serious criminal histories, rejecting City Hall's claim the demand was political.
U.S. District Judge Lewis A. Kaplan of the Southern District of New York, an appointee of former President Bill Clinton, granted federal prosecutors' petition to enforce the October 2025 subpoena from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), which seeks the names and birth dates of men living at the Bruckner shelter at 825 East 141st Street.
The ruling is structured to keep ICE from accessing the full roster.
The agency agreed to a special master, a court-appointed official who will identify residents charged with any of eight offenses, from murder and rape to burglary and assault of a law enforcement officer, and pass only those names along.
The opinion cites sworn statements from a supervisor in ICE's Homeland Security Investigations division, who said the agency knew of about 100 people receiving immigration mail at the shelter, at least 20 who had entered the country illegally and listed it as home, and 12 who listed it and had been charged with one of the eight offenses.
The order caps a fight that began in August 2025, when ICE sought the names and birth dates of every man at two city shelters.
The city called that request an improper fishing expedition, and the agency narrowed its demand three times over the next two months.
City lawyers also argued that ICE was using its subpoena power to undermine the city's sanctuary laws, which limit local cooperation with federal immigration enforcement.
Kaplan found no support in the record for that theory or the claim of political motive, concluding the subpoena concerns a matter "material and relevant to the enforcement of the federal immigration laws."
He stressed that judges play a narrow role in such disputes and must defer to an agency's view of what is relevant unless it is plainly wrong.
As of Friday, City Hall had not decided whether to appeal.
Ivonne Rodriguez, a spokeswoman for Democratic Mayor Zohran Mamdani, said the administration is weighing its next steps, Politico reported .
New York Attorney General Letitia James, also a Democrat, told the outlet her office is "reviewing the possibility of an appeal."
Murad Awawdeh, head of the New York Immigration Coalition, urged an appeal, calling ICE's original demand "a dragnet, not an investigation."
Kaplan gave the parties 14 days to submit a proposed order appointing the special master and setting how that official will be paid.
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